For the most part, the set is weak on +spell damage and some Warlocks prefer other non set drops in Molten Core; however, it's 5/8 set piece bonus makes it a powerful set choice for Soul Link warlocks.

The 8-set bonus that reduces mana cost of shadow spells is especially good for boss fights where a lot of mana is used. However, this bonus has a double effect: Life Tap will reduce 15% less health, while still giving the same amount of mana. The final result is that life converted to spells will provide 30% more spells in total because of this bonus. This will make the bonus much better than the Tier 3 Plagueheart Raiment 8-set bonus, that merely reduces health cost of Life Tap by 12%.